One must occasionally commit . . . artwork?

[kiya]

Well, more accurately, concept sketch.

For a while I've been pondering designing an Egyptian-concept tarot deck, one that satisfies me with its imagery. (I'm picky.) This was given a bit of a boot recently when thastygliax was doing various characters as tarot cards.

The image I have so far goes with the High Priestess. For those people who aren't familiar with common imagery for the High Priestess (those are three links, by the bye), she's very commonly portrayed between two pillars, a black one and a white one, and represents in part the magical intuitive journey (oddly enough, I associate the card most strongly with one of the Inanna myths, the one where she gives up all her treasures to go into the underworld and then comes back with the secrets of lots of stuff).

The image in my head didn't have the woman in the center, just the pillars. . . .



And when I was googling for images to use for references, I found something that was almost exactly it.

To do with tinkering: bring the winged Khepri down so it's associated with the sundisk properly. Perhaps tinker with some of the lines to make the rebus more obvious (yay rebus; clearly the readings I've done about hieroglyphic layout and graphic design have gelled in my subconscious at least somewhat). Fix some of the arm proportions. Refine the design. Add the card name and number to the bottom. Refine the shading so Nephthys's clothing is dark and the innermost wingpatch is white, Isis's wing and clothing light with the innermost wingpatch dark. Also, colors.

So hush, oneironaut, and stop nagging at me about that stuff. ;)

(Armclasp in part credit teinedreugan, who let me borrow one of his arms and pose it and peer at the result. Yes, I do stare at my hands when drawing hands and similar suchlikes, why do you ask?)


In other news: turned in my take-home test at the hospital, had blood drawn for the rest of it, and don't have to worry about my kidneys for the next couple of weeks. Finally managed to finish part 15 last night, may try to get 16 done today if I can figure out what it is.

Comments

[brooksmoses]

Mmm. Is a pretty. And the arm-clasp does look properly realistic, too.

[morningwind.livejournal.com]

Oooh...me like. :) And as brooksmoses said, the arm clasp does look quite realistic.

I think that the idea of designing ones own tarot deck is wonderful, except mine would look terrible. Una pregunta: what's a rebus?

[kiya]

A rebus is . . . a sort of puzzle, I guess. The AE were fond of them.

Basically, it's a sort of visual joke or representation of one idea through a bunch of other ideas. It was often done with names on tombs, where the objects that were the components of the name are put into the hands of the bas-relief of the deceased as yet another way of putting the name on the wall.

I've also seen an image where some of the sacred texts regarding something associated with the horizon (hieroglyph the sun-disc between two hills, sort of like /\O/\ only a lot smoother-looking) was written in a roughly circular shape between two sphinxes crouched back-to-back, so the flanks of the sphynxes are the hills, and the text was the sun-disc.

Mine isn't anywhere near that sophisticated. :} Just an attempt to evoke a symbol with other symbols.

Now my mind is trying to design the Moon card, and maybe I'll get that sorted out enough to sketch sometime.

And I think I know what I want to do with the minor arcana, maybe, but that'll take research and I don' wanna! ;)

[thastygliax.livejournal.com]

Nifty sketch!

Yes, I do stare at my hands when drawing hands and similar suchlikes, why do you ask?

I've noticed myself doing this even more than usual in my most recent slew of sketches--and being forced into odd contortions so that *I* can see the right angle. But how else am I supposed to get it to look right? ;-)

[kiya]

Exactly!

I've got a model, damnit. Even if I have to . . . .er, ow, stretch, hm. Right. That's how it looks. ;)